A Fresh Elegance

Joe Venezia has been growing herbs since he was a boy in Buffalo, N.Y. "We always kept a garden," he says. "It was one of those things everybody did in our Italian neighborhood."

That was why, when Venezia took over as executive chef at the Hotel Bel-Air in 1982 (after three years in Dallas, as sous-chef at the prestigious Mansion and later the Laurent restaurants), he looked at a bit of idle lawn on the hotel grounds and thought, "What a great herb garden this would make."

After a slow start, Venezia has managed to get his half-acre gardening down to a science. French tarragon, sage, Italian parsley, thyme and oregano were first to go in. After a year, he added lemon balm, geranium and wild watercress. Now, there are several varieties of oregano and basil growing there, along with baby lettuce, arugula and radicchio. Venezia has found that herbs do very well in pots. "They don't like being planted too close to other plants," he says. "Start with Italian parsley; it's prolific once it starts and requires no special treatment."

The lobster dish created by Venezia was designed to make utmost use of the variety of herbs from the hotel's garden. The lobster is steamed in white vermouth seasoned with laurel (fresh bay leaf), chervil, sorrel, tarragon, basil, fennel and Italian parsley. Julienne tomatoes and red and yellow bell peppers in an herbed wine vinaigrette decorate and flavor the dish. The cooked lobster rests on a similar grouping of fresh herbs.

Combine chervil, watercress, onion, Chardonnay vinegar, egg yolk, oil, salt and pepper to taste in blender container. Blend until mixture is emulsified; be careful not to blend too much or sauce will separate. Makes about 1/2 cup sauce. PRODUCED BY ROBIN TUCKER